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Emerging Adulthood and Prospective Depression: A Simultaneous Test of Cumulative Risk Theories

NCJ Number
254204
Date Published
2019
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study examined how three risk factors (prior depression, abuse, and neglect) synergistically predicted prospective depressive symptoms in a sample of 214 emerging adults (Mage-21.4 years; SDage-2.4; 78 percent females).
Abstract
Past research indicates that a history of depression and exposure to abuse and neglect represent some of the most robust predictors of depression in emerging adults; however, studies rarely test the additive or interactive risk associated with these distinct risk factors. In the current study, subtypes of maltreatment and lifetime history of depression were assessed through semi-structured interviews, and depressive symptoms were assessed annually for 3 years via self-report measures. The results indicated that for both males and females, a lifetime history of depression, abuse, and neglect-exposure uniquely conferred risk for elevated depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the interaction between neglect and prior depression forecasted increasing depressive symptoms, and a history of abuse also predicted increasing depressive symptoms, but only in females. These findings are contextualized within extant developmental psychopathology theories, and translational implications for trauma-informed depression prevention efforts are discussed. (publisher abstract modified)

Date Published: January 1, 2019